Belly up to a bar in China, and your request for a Coors Light is likely to garner a blank stare from the server.

But ask for a yin zhi dan — the Mandarin Chinese translation of “silver bullet” — and chances are growing that a bottle with the familiar red script logo and snowcapped mountains will materialize.

Denver-based Molson Coors Brewing Co. is betting $40 million that silver bullet will become an increasingly popular part of the Chinese beer- drinking lexicon.

That’s the amount the brewer paid earlier this year to acquire a controlling stake in the Sihai Beer Co. in northeast China.

By next summer, the Sihai facility will be producing Coors Light. And within a few years, the brewery is expected to become the springboard for Molson Coors’ development of Asia as a major foreign market.

“The joint venture is big news for us,” said George Mansfield, managing director of Asia and Pacific operations for Molson Coors. “We’re now ready to take a step up. We’re entering into the mainstream business with substantially more volume than the smaller operations we have today.”

Finalization in September of the deal to acquire a 51 percent stake in Sihai Beer followed years of researching the China beer market and dozens of negotiation sessions with Sihai officials.

Talks often took place in banquet settings that included Chinese delicacies and liberal supplies of Coors Light and Sihai Gold Label.

The former Adolph Coors Co., which merged with Canadian brewer Molson in 2004, first entered the Asian marketplace in 1986 through a licensing agreement with Japanese brewer Asahi.

Sales in China began in 2003 with Coors Light being made to corporate specifications by a local brewery near Shanghai.

Coors’ due diligence had shown that the words “Coors Light” were difficult to pronounce for Chinese people. That gave rise to promoting the beer as “silver bullet,” also the theme of North American marketing campaigns.

Despite nearly 25 years of international sales, foreign markets aside from Canada and the United Kingdom still represent a tiny share of Molson Coors revenue.

The company declined to say how much foreign sales contribute to top or bottom lines, but Morgan Stanley analysts in a recent research report said Molson Coors has “almost no exposure to higher-growth emerging markets.”

That is what’s driving the firm’s brewery acquisition in Chengde, 120 miles northeast of Beijing. Molson Coors officials see the growing upper and middle classes in China as bringing more discretionary spending on import beers.

Coors Light is priced in bars and nightclubs at about $2.50 to $3 per 330-milliliter bottle, or about 11 ounces. Domestic Chinese beers sell for about 50 cents.

No. 2 behind Budweiser

China represents a paradox. It collectively is the largest beer-drinking country in the world, yet per-capita consumption lags well behind most Western countries.

Imported beers account for less than 1 percent of total beer sales in China. Molson Coors claims to be No. 2 behind Budweiser in the “super premium” import category.

China, Russia and Vietnam are viewed as prime expansion markets for Coors Light, said Kandy Anand, president of Molson Coors International.

“We want to select attractive markets where we can make an impact,” he said. “China is clearly our focus area.”

The growth strategy, Anand said, is to make a relatively modest initial investment in brewing capacity at one facility and then expand as sales grow.

That’s a departure from the approach, for example, of Budweiser owner InBev, which recently has spent $209 million on a series of three acquisitions or expansions throughout China.

Molson Coors’ $40 million investment was underwhelming to Eric Shepard, executive editor of trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights. He described the Sihai deal as a “pretty small bet . . . in a huge market where everyone wants to play, but no one is making much money.”

A prudent arrangement?

“Exporting to China is a tiny, expensive business not likely to grow too fast, given costs,” he said. “Molson Coors hasn’t made very many bold moves internationally, and this is not too bold, but warranted, given the size and long-term potential of the Chinese market.”

Colorado State University marketing professor Stan Slater worked for Coors in the 1980s and has followed the company since then.

He said Molson Coors has been prudent to enter the China market slowly through contract brewing arrangements before acquiring its own production and distribution.

“Coors Light has become sufficiently successful to warrant going the next step, which is a joint venture,” Slater said. “(The deal) will enable them to further penetrate the market.”

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